Quick Start User Guide – v1.0

Thank you for taking a test drive of TheCharterLife.com!

We want every user on TheCharterLife.com to have the best possible experience and get the most value for their time spent on the site, so before you get started building your new, powerful web marketing presence there are a few things you should know about the layout and features of the site. By taking a minute or two now to review the items below, you will save yourself time in the future and make your initial setup and configuration much smoother.

How your profiles are structured:

We have designed TheCharterLife.com to be useful and beneficial to all types of marine charter operators. Whether you own one charter company with one vessel or multiple charter companies with many vessels, our system will work for you. Below is a diagram showing the basic profile hierarchy on TheCharterLife.com

Figure 1: Structure and Hierarchy of Profiles on The Charter Life

The way our site is structured you are able to create a profile page for You (The Charter Professional), your Charter Company (or multiple companies if desired), and your Charter Vessel (or multiple vessels is desired). This allows you to provide unique details on separate pages and more effectively represent your Charter Company as a whole. Each Charter Vessel will be linked to a Charter Company and each Charter Company will be linked to a Charter Professional so it is important that you create your Charter Company profile first so that you can then “tie” a Charter Vessel to it.

A good example of the hierarchy structure can be seen via our sample profile for the fictitious charter company “Margaritaville Charters” at the link below.

Margaritaville Charters (Sample):

http://www.thecharterlife.com/MargaritaCharter ? notice the custom URL for Premium Profiles!

If you take a look at this page you can see that there are two sample vessels listed for this charter company. You can click on the links for each vessel on the Charter Company profile page or go directly to the vessel profile page via the following links.

Parrot Head Vessel Profile Page (Sample Premium Marketing Profile):

http://www.thecharterlife.com/parrothead ? notice the custom URL for Premium Profiles!

Coral Reefer Vessel Profile Page (Sample Basic Marketing Profile)

http://www.thecharterlife.com/Vessel.aspx?id=100054 ? standard URL for Basic Profile

Looking at these two pages you can see how easy it is to navigate from the Charter Company page to the Charter Vessel page and back. Links are clearly displayed to show the relationship between the two. You can also see how different details are displayed on the Charter Company page and the Charter Vessel page including videos, photos, location information, blog posts, and reviews.

How Do I Get Started?

Initial Registration:

In order to start setting up your profiles on The Charter Life, you first need to be registered on the site as a Charter Industry Professional . You can begin the registration process by clicking on the “Register” link in the upper right hand corner of the page, clicking on the “3 Month Free Trial” button, or you are welcome to first read a bit more about the benefits of a marketing subscription on The Charter Life by clicking on one of the links in our “Market Your Charter” menu area.

There are multiple ways to start you registration on TheCharterLife.com

Figure 2: Where to Begin Registration

Note: We are now offering a FREE 3 Month Trial of our Premium Marketing Subscription . To take advantage of this offer, simply register as a Charter Industry Professional and select the option to register for a “Premium Marketing Subscription” when asked (shown in Figure 3 below). You will not be asked for a Credit Card or any other payment information during the trial period. You have 90 days to try The Charter Life, Risk Free ! Simply purchase a Premium Subscription at the end of the trial period if you would like to continue using your Premium Profile on TheCharterLife.com

Make Sure To Select Premium Marketing Subscription When Asked

Figure 3: Three Month Free Trial of Premium Marketing Subscription

Once you start the initial registration process you will first be asked for Personal Profile Information, then you will be asked for Charter Company Information, and finally you will have the ability to add Vessel Profile information and link that vessel to a Charter Company. There are a few recommendations we have for users when they are initially registering and setting up their profile.

Registration Recommendations:

1. Provide as much detail as possible . Even though the only items that are required are marked with an asterisk, the more information you provide, the more you are likely to attract visitors to your profile. Note: you can always come back at any time and add detail but we have found it is easiest and most convenient to add detail during initial registration.

2. Upload a profile photo . Profile photos are the first photos that users see first when viewing your profiles. They show up in our search results and on the interactive charter locator map so it is important to have one available for your profile page. Get your profile started off right by uploading your profile photo during initial registration. Note: Profile photos are uploaded via the profile detail page and not on the photo & video page.

3. Provide detailed address or Lat/Lon info . All Premium profiles have the option of being plotted on the Interactive Charter Locator Map on our homepage. This is a great way for users to find your charter but in order for it to work we need detailed location information. Note**: If you are not seeing your Charter Company or Vessel on the map where you would expect to see it or if you believe your icon is being “covered up” by another profile’s icon, you can adjust your location by manually providing lat/lon coordinates for your location. Our system will always use a Lat/Lon location over an address when they are provided.

Returning To The Site After Initial Registration

The Account Dashboard:

Perhaps you quickly registered for the site without providing all of the necessary information or you were registered by someone else and need to now log in and begin building your profiles. Each time you log in after your initial registration, the Account Dashboard page will give you a quick snapshot of all the tools available to you and a snapshot of the activity for your various profile pages. A screenshot of the Account Dashboard page is shown in Figure 4 below.

Figure 4: The Account Dashboard Page

Once you have logged back in to the site using your username and password, you can access the Account Dashboard page simply by clicking on the “My Account” link at the top of the page or in the main menu. Either link will take you directly to your personalized Dashboard.

You can quickly see from the screenshot in Figure 4 that the Account Dashboard page provides links to the Charter Companies and Charter Vessels that you have created on TheCharterLife.com as well as several other tools that we offer to help you run your business. While they are not discussed in detail in this quick start guide, the Newsletter , Manage Subusers , and Customer Inquiry areas of your account will no doubt be useful as you get more comfortable with using TheCharterLife.com.

Updating a Profile and adding Content to your Charter Company or Vessel:

Whether you have just registered or you are returning to update an existing profile, you will at some point want to start adding some great content to your site. The Charter Life has made it very easy for you to keep photos, video, and blog posts/fishing reports updated on your site.

From your Account Dashboard page simply click on the “My Charter Companies” or “My Vessels” link depending on what type of profile you are trying to update. The list pages for charter companies and vessels are essentially the same and we have shown a sample Charter Vessel list for a fictitious user in figure 5 below.

Figure 5: “My Vessels” list display

You can see from the list above that the vessel name, profile picture, and upgrade status is shown as well as links for adding Crew Member Information , Blogs , and Pictures and Video . The last two columns of the listing give you the ability to update general profile information (booking contact information, location, amenities, etc.) and delete a profile. Below are some quick notes on the most popular areas for updates.

1. General Information Update: -access this by clicking on the blue circle under the update column-

By clicking on the icon in the “Update” column you will be taken to the profile detail pages and be able to update items like address, location, charter specialty, and whether or not your charter is plotted on the Interactive Charter Locator Map on the homepage.

Note: When using your Premium Marketing Subscription, make sure that you set your “ Unique Name ” to something that resembles your Charter Company or Vessel name and that it is something that is easy for your customers to remember. This Unique Name is used to create your custom URL which makes your profiles easier to find and to direct users to. For example, the unique name for the vessel “Parrot Head” above is ‘parrothead’. As a result, you can access this vessel’s profile page simply by typing www .thecharterlife.com/ parrothead into your web browser.

2. Adding & Managing Pictures and Video:

If you click on the “Pictures & Videos” link for a particular Charter Company or Vessel profile, you will be taken to a page similar to the one shown in Figure 6 below. This page provides the tools that will allow you to upload photos and Link to YouTube videos. Once you have added the URL for a YouTube video, your video will be displayed on your profile page just as if it is hosted on our site.

Figure 6: Add/Edit Photos & Video (Media) List

As you can see from the image in Figure 6, thumbnails will be generated for all of the photos that you upload but for any YouTube video that you wish to link to your profile, you will only see the YouTube URL in this list. Don’t be concerned that you only see the URL here. The video will display as expected on your profile page (assuming the URL has been properly copied). To begin adding photos and video or to add additional items to your gallery, simply click on the “Add Media” link in the upper right hand corner of this page.

3. Blogs:

Your blog entries are a great way to keep your current customers up to date on your activities and a great way to attract new customers to your charter service. We recommend that you use your Profile Blog on a regular basis and use it to always highlight your service and add to your credibility. Your blog can be a fishing report, destination report, catch-of-the-day report, weather report, or anything else that you may want your customers to know about your charter.

4. Addresses & Locations:

Remember that you always have the option to have your Charter Company and Charter Vessel(s) plotted on the Interactive Charter Locator Map on TheCharterLife.com homepage. This is not a requirement and may not make sense in all circumstances. Keep in mind that two profiles that have the exact same location (for instance if you use the same address for your Charter Company and Charter Vessel) will be plotted in the exact same place on the map and one will “cover up” the other. In this situation it may make sense to specify that only one of those profiles be plotted on the map (this can be done in the same area of the profile where you update address/location information). You will also notice that you have the ability to specify a permanent/home location and a current location for your vessels. A short description of these two location types is below for clarification.

Permanent/Home Location – This is the location where your vessel spends most, or in some cases all, of its time. This may be a home port or marina and may also be the address of your Charter Company.

Current Location – This will most likely only be used if your Charter Vessel is transient and spends time in different areas throughout the year. This would give you the ability to have your Charter Company location plotted in one place on our locator map and then provide different locations for your vessel as you move from one place to another. This makes it easy for users to find your charter service in all of the different areas that you operate. It also makes it easy for one Charter Company to represent multiple different Vessels in different locations.

Where To Go and What To Do Once Your Profiles Are Established

So, you’ve set up your Charter Company and/or Vessel profile on TheCharterLife.com and you are excited to have customers see your new, dynamic web presence. Now, how do you make sure that your profile on TheCharterLife.com is working hard for you? Below are a few things to remember that will make it easier to keep your profile updated and help you keep in touch with customers.

1. Update Your Profile From Your Mobile Phone:

We know you don’t always have time to sit and work at your computer so we have created a mobile version of The Charter Life that can be accessed from any mobile phone. In addition to allowing users to search and view charters, you can also log in to your account, update your location, post profile blog entries, and upload photos directly from your camera phone or smart phone(photo uploads work with most mobile phones). Simply go to www.thecharterlife.com in your mobile web browser and we will automatically re-direct you to the The Charter Life Mobile.

2. Use Our Newsletter Feature:

You will notice that you have a “My Newsletter” tab on your account Dashboard page. This will enable you to create a newsletter for your charter company and then automatically email it out to anyone who has selected you as one of their “Favorites” on TheCharterLife.com. All you have to do is create the newsletter, save it, and then click the “Send Newsletter” button in your newsletter list and we do the rest.

3. Add Sub-users to help manage your profiles:

We know that, in many cases, there may be several people that help operate your charter business and that could help share in the responsibility of keeping your web content up to date. You have the ability to add Subusers to your account via your Account Dashboard page. You can assign these users their own username and password and they will then have the ability to edit the profiles that you specify under your account. This way you can keep administrative control of your account while allowing others to add content and manage information about your charter.

While there are many features to The Charter Life that are not discussed in this document, we hope that the features we have provided details on will help you get started on our site and allow you to begin building a powerful web presence for your Marine Charter Service. If you have any additional questions about the site or how to use your marketing profile, don’t hesitate to contact one of our representatives at info@thecharterlife.com .